The newspaper obtained 15 years of environmental records for 17 different categories and subcategories of enforcement activity through Freedom of Information Act requests. In 13 of these categories, the Bush administration had lower average numbers than the Clinton administration, according to the Inquirer, and in 11 categories, the 2003 average was lower than the 2001 average, revealing a downward trend.
For instance, the monthly average of violation notices, which are a key enforcement tool, has dropped 58 percent since the Bush administration took office compared to the monthly average under President Clinton, according to the Inquirer. The Bush administration has issued an average of just 77 citations each month, well below the Clinton and Bush I administrations, which averaged 183 and 195 citations a month respectively.
“It’s a sign that this administration is flat-out falling down on the job,” Dan Esty, a deputy assistant EPA administrator during the first Bush administration and now director of the Yale University Center for Environmental Law and Policy, told the Inquirer.